FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Leaf margins feel unmistakably like a saw; walking through a sawgrass marsh can be a painful experience.
Synonym(s): Cladium mariscus
Description: Tall, coarse perennial sedge up to 3 m growing in extensive stands from stout rhizomes. Stem is slightly triangular.
Leaves: Linear, tapering leaves, about 1 m long and 1 cm wide with spiny, saw-toothed margins. Leaves are stiff, folded at the midrib and becoming triangular at the tip.
Flowers/Fruit: Long (0.5 m) inflorescence is formed by clusters of spikelets occurring at the end of drooping branches. Flowering and fruiting July to September.
Habit and Range: Brackish marshes, ditches and shores in the outer Coastal Plain. May form dense monotypic stands in brackish waters. May occur either in standing water or on less wet ground in the Coastal Plain.
Taxonomic Note: Synonym for Cladium jamaicense is Cladium mariscus ssp. jamaicense.
